Diamonds from Diamond Creek ~ my weekly finds

Late on Tuesday evening I was reading a few Blogs, and mentioned I was going out Op Shopping on Wednesday.  Gina from Patra's Place emailed me that she'd like a day out too, and maybe we could meet up and she'd show me around some of her local Op shops. We both contribute to the I Op therefore I am blog, a collaborative blog about op shopping in Melbourne, so I knew just how keen she is on op shops, so I couldn't wait to meet her.

I have lived in Melbourne for 30 years now, and never been to Diamond Creek, so Gina and I met up in Eltham and did some shopping !  She managed to buy a lot of great things for her crafts and her collections, but I hit the best load of Knitting Patterns I have found for a long time, in a lovely Op Shop in Diamond Creek.

I love old knitting patterns, the older the better, and in this huge lot were even 3 from the 1920s/ 1930s.

aren't these Ladies divine?  Lots of the patterns were from the WWII era too, with notices inside the pattern books saying that due to the factory supplying cloth to the Armed Forces, some knitting yarns may be in short supply.

this was the first time I had met Gina, but I am sure we will have a lot more Op Shopping Days together in the future.

I' ll be linking up with Sophie for the weekly Flea Market Finds, as always.  Lots of goodies to check out over there.

a while ago I join up with others over at Faith Hope and Charity shopping  to do a Swap. Well, it's almost past the time I should have sent my parcel off, but it is only 1/2 done (or 1/2 NOT done, it that's the way you look at life !).

Today the lovely Carole from Serendipity, Raindrops and Roses  sent me this parcel  - I opened it to the smell of Roses (gorgeous potpourri)

so many lovely parcels to unwrap.... there was a sweet vintage Tea Cosy, some Honey Soap, truffles in a cute 'handbag' box, Melting Roses for my bathtub, and a wonderful... I mean wonderful vintage silver and brownstone brooch.(Divine ♥)

I just cannot wait to wear this, tomorrow!!!
Carole is great at sewing and makes all sorts of things, but these little Cup Bags really are the best ! drawstring top, pop your cup in, pop your sugar/teabag / teaspoon in the side pockets and you are ready to go to any meeting, hobby night, market day... fantastic.

and I just love the Bathing Beauties fabric too.. One of them could be me!  but I'm not telling which one!
Now as if that all wasn't enough, at the bottom of the box was the largest parcel....A SETTLER BEAR, her name is Jeanette, and she's all decked out in her best vintage gear!  Isn't she lovely.

so Thank you Carole, you have made my day, and thanks too to Lakota for organizing this Swap.  Promise my COMPLETE parcel will be in the mail next week♥

my Best hard rubbish find .. and so close to home.

I have way too much stuff at home, so I rarely check the hard rubbish in my area these days, but I did find a rather nice old pattered cardboard suitcase to bring home, dusty outside but clean inside and a bit of polish has brought it up nice enough to use at the market to sell bits from.

Then, one day I walked down our driveway to check the mailbox and There She Was, -- outside my opposite neighbours house, waiting for me...  Helen of Troy ...

I was so excited I skipped across the road, grabbed her and put her in my garage.  Now I have had a very busy week and not had time to explore her, she seems to be a cardboard Form-o-matic just like Nick at Collecting Feathers featured recently.  At some stage she has been covered with a woolly fabric.  I'll investigate her further, but don't want to damage the underlayer just 'cause I need to know!
Took the pics quickly late yesterday, sorry about the mess in the garage as a background, no time to bring her inside and style her yet.

It's early on Sunday here and I'm off to my Sunday Market but had to share and hope you'll all pop over to Sophie's Flea Market Finds this week for more great bargain hunting.

~Lyndel
PS for all our non-Melbourne friends, Hard Rubbish is conducted twice a year by our Local Council.  They come around in trucks and collect you larger rubbish to take to the tip/landfill.  Once Hard Rubbish Week starts you see lots and lots of cars, vans, wagons driving up and down the streets looking.... looking .... looking.... for Treasures amongst other peoples Trash, and saving our Planet from more landfill.

PPS why Helen of Troy? well my dear old neighbour is Greek, so I thought a good Greek name would be in order. -- I am open to other name suggestions of course!

My Mantle .. but not on a Monday

Moving right along the mantlepiece, (I have mentioned it is very long), we have a small green ashtray from the 1924 Wembley Exhibition in London, with the exhibition logo of a Lion in each corner.  Next a very tall jug, decorated with dogs all around,  dates from 1880s and the artist was Miss Hanah Barlow.  Next is a very funny chap, a drowning sailor, with his wet head thru a life ring, with the words SAVED on it.  Made in about the 1920s.
Finally a stoneware London River Thames advertising barge boat, from about 1900/1910.

All are made by Doulton at Lambeth in London and form part of Vic's Doulton Stoneware collection.

I'm joining up with Estelle at Fortune Favours... where she shows some of her collectables on the Mantlepiece every Monday (I'm just a slow starter).

I also managed to cook a wonderfully yummy Bread and Butter Marmalade Pudding this week.

almost overcooked it, but Vic thought it was wonderful♥

my weekly finds .. .. some days are just better than others

week started out with a cute Willow Australia Tin Household Budget Box, and just got better.
The inside is small compartments, and each one has a slot for the money, labeled Milk, Electricity, Insurance, etc... so sweet . I loved the illustration of a burglar to show off the 'Insurance' aspect of saving!

I also scored a lovely vintage handbag to take to North Melbourne Markets next Sunday, heaps of lovely fabrics only from the 1990s but good colours to mix and match, and then....not one, not two but half a dozen vintage cards of replacement elastic for men's underwear.  hee hee... not exactly exciting but look at the sweet cards they are on, who could resist them??

No indication of where they were made, or anything, plain white card backs, the elastic still stretches but there are some rust marks on some of them.
I'm linking up as usual with Sophie (the Birthday Girl), at her Flea Market Finds.
If you love to see what people are buying... that's the blog to check it out at.

On Saturday, Vic and I travelled down to Tyabb to the VINTAGE SHED, just for a look around and to check out Shabby Vintage Junk's newest outlet.  Wow, I could have stayed all day, so so so so much to see.  Tyabb is on the Mornington Peninsula an hour's drive from Melbourne, well worth the trip any Thursday / Friday / Saturday or Sunday.

NZ vs AUSTRALIA -- the Pavlova War? - no just a very lovely present ♥

A WAR? oh No !!

Today this lovely present arrived in the mail for me, Handpainted wrapping paper, yummy ribbon, crochet trimming and all 

And what was inside ??

Yes, a Teatowel from the lovely  Bridget, in New Zealand.

together with some yummy Nescafe flavoured coffees,  and a sweet note.

Bridget wrote that her husband pointed out that there is a bit of controversy over the Pavlova between Aust and NZ... whoops !! but she thought it was a cool design, and so do I.  I just LOVE it.

I mean who could not love ladies like these♥

Thanks Bridget, it is fantastic, and we 'll just stick to arguing over the Rugby and Cricket and leave the poor ol' Pav alone.  OK?

my Friday Frocks on a Monday night.. .. ..

I know a lot of my blogger friends like to show off a Frock on Friday.  Well if I had a model I may too, but nothing I find in the vintage line ever fits me.
Last week I lucked upon a lovely group of 1970s dresses, all a bit grubby from hanging in a robe for a long time, so I washed and ironed them all this weekend and here they are.
First is this short dress, sleeveless but with a chiffon overlay, and a diamante brooch sewn on (I unpicked it..washed dress and sewed it back!..but it's missing 2 stones).

Next one is by HABE GARMENTS of Sydney, with the largest Butterfly Wing sleeves I've ever seen, fully lined, and a little bow under the bustline.

this one is home made, lovely floral chiffon, and definitely my favourite, unfortunately torn at the back on the hemline. :(  very pretty floral.

a Lounge Culotte .. concealed zipper front, tie at waist,  by Leyren of Melbourne.  A huge amount of fabric in the legs means it looks like a long dress when worn.

So there you have it, a treasure trove of Frocks from my Opping this week. Now all clean and nice and ready to go to Nth Melbourne Market in a few weeks time.

Serving up my Finds on a Platter . . or 2

Found a few goodies this week trawling the op shops, usual haul of knitting / crochet patterns, as well as an Orange chenille bedspread, two Wonderful 'plastic' serving trays, some old Patons Pure Wool Yarn and lots of cream crochet threads..

 The fantastic Bird in a tree is slightly yellowed, unfortunately,  and has no makers markings.

The one with Vine Leaves is made by the British Plastics P/L of Melbourne

Pop over to Sophies Flea Market Finds to see what everyone found this week, it is a great place to catch up with who's buying what... ...

a very wintery Winters Day

today was wet, cold and very windy in Melbourne. the Perfect Day to pick winter roses, a.k.a. Hellebores to cheer me up.
just popped them into the perfect 'vase' a pale green 1960s Parfait Glass. {an Op Shopped orphan one of course}

Hope you are keeping warm on this chilly day.

Mantlepiece Monday .. lets start at the beginning ..

As I said last week, our mantlepiece is very long,  it is over the Gas Heater, right along the wall with a bookcase.  So, I'll show you it bit by bit, it rarely ever changes, it is where Vic likes to keep his favourite pieces of old Doulton Lambeth Stoneware.
Above this lot is a lovely old illustration of the Cambridge and Oxford Boat race, held annually on the Thames at Putney.
First up a 3 handled loving cup with Rowing Scenes all around (1882), then a Seated Toby match holder(1920), next a tall jug with applied decorations of Men Playing Cricket (1882), and finally a very early, 1820s-30s large Mug with very simple incised decorations.

Vic is originally from Putney in London and we do collect a lot of things, postcards and letters mainly, from Putney.

I'm linking up with Fortune Favours the thrifty... sharing all our mantlepiece decorations, each Monday.

Newest Finds

July has started off really well.
First up, YES, I have moved all my stuff into the garden shed, had a wonderful 2 days of clean up, re-arranging, setting up spots for things.  Most is in plastic tubs, with all clothing, washed, ironed, and sorted into categories, winter dresses, coats, jackets, summer dresses, etc. hanging in clothing bags and all neat!  yippee.

Had quite a few good finds this week, the best certainly being the PARTY LIGHTS in a box indicating they were made by Wing Industries of Box Hill, Vic  (right near where I live!!).
there are 8 glass coloured lights (and a spare), and four glass 'fancy' lights. A Bird, A Chinese lantern, A Cottage, and a Bird in a Cage.  How wonderful.  Vic says it is too risky to try them out, but they do have a plug (just a bit old).

Other finds included a repro. Pears Tin, full of wooden cotton reels, a carved wooden brooch in the form of a gumleaf and gumnuts, a raffia brooch, a pretty floral basket hook, which will come in handy in the new 'Studio', lots and lots of knitting pattern books, including this Craft Australia one with some really Kooky 1980s fashion, and a little stone Heart.  Those of you who know my granddaughter LJ will know that is for her.

I am sure there were other bits and pieces too, but with all this sorting and packing and tidying up, they have disappeared into boxes somewhere.

As usual I'll hook up with all the other Thrifty Thrifters over at Sophies this week.

Friday Night Vic and I attended the opening of the Hottie Exhibition at The Open Drawer, and were amazed by the work and thought that went into making these lovely Hot Water Bottle Covers in such a variety of fabrics and styles.  We met so many fellow bloggers on the evening, and had a lovely time.  Cam from Curly Pops has written a full preview.. thanks Cam.

New Project ..

When we first moved to this house, about 20 years ago, we had 2 cars, and a large garden to look after, so this Cedar Garden Shed was built to take some of the stuff that just did not fit into the Garage.

Fast forward 20 years, hubby no longer drives, so we only have one car, he doesn't garden, so we have the lawn mower man, and lots of spare space!.  As we have just received notice of our local council hard rubbish collection starting soon, and following a super week of sunny weather, I ventured up to the shed today to empty it.

Most will fit into the Garage, and some will end up on hard rubbish. I have swept it out, and let off one of those insect bomb things, so in 12 hours time I can start cleaning up there and move in.  It will be a great place to keep my Market Stall and eBay stock, (freeing up the spare bedroom).  Hoorah.  Unfortunately there is no power up there, so no Lighting, no Sewing Machine, no heating.  Also, the walls are not lined, but they do look good and rustic.
It will be a little space all my own, and I'm quite excited about it.

More photos as the clean up and transformation begin.